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04 - The Box Car Children - Gertrude Warner · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

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  Speaker 1: Chapter four, A new home keep still, whispered Jess. Benny obeyed.
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  Speaker 1: The three children were as motionless as stone images, huddled
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  Speaker 1: inside the freight car. Jess opened her mouth in order
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  Speaker 1: to breathe at all. Her heart was thumping so wildly.
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  Speaker 1: She watched like a cat through the open door in
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  Speaker 1: the direction of the rustling noise, and in a moment,
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  Speaker 1: the trembling bushes parted and out crawled a dog. He
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  Speaker 1: was an Airdale and was pulling himself along on three legs,
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  Speaker 1: whimpering softly. Jess drew a long breath of relief and
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  Speaker 1: said to the children, it's all right, only a dog,
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  Speaker 1: but he seems to be hurt. At the sound of
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  Speaker 1: her voice, the dog lifted his eyes and wagged his
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  Speaker 1: tail feebly. He held up his front foot. Poor doggie,
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  Speaker 1: murmured Jess soothingly, as she clambered out of the car.
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  Speaker 1: Are let Jess see your poor lame foot. She approached
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  Speaker 1: the dog carefully, for she remembered that her mother had
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  Speaker 1: always told her never to touch a strange dog unless
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  Speaker 1: he wagged his tail. But this dog's tail was wagging certainly,
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  Speaker 1: so Jess bent over without fear to look at the paw.
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  Speaker 1: An exclamation of pity escaped her when she saw it,
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  Speaker 1: for a stiff, sharp thorn had been driven completely through
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  Speaker 1: one of the cushions of the dog's foot and around
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  Speaker 1: it the blood had dried. I guess I can fix that,
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  Speaker 1: said Jess briskly. But taking the thorn out is going
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  Speaker 1: to hurt you, old fellow. The dog looked up at
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  Speaker 1: her as she laid his paw down and licked her hand.
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  Speaker 1: Come here, Violet, and Benny, directed Jess. She took the
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  Speaker 1: animal gently in her lap and turned him on his side.
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  Speaker 1: She patted his head and stroked his nose with one finger,
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  Speaker 1: and offered him the rest of her bread crust, which
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  Speaker 1: she had put in her apron pocket. The dog snapped
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  Speaker 1: it up as if he were nearly starved. Then she
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  Speaker 1: held the soft paw firmly with her left hand and
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  Speaker 1: pulled steadily on the thorn with her right hand. The
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  Speaker 1: dog did not utter a sound. He lay motionless in
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  Speaker 1: her lap until the thorn suddenly let go and lay
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  Speaker 1: in Jess's hand. Good good, cried Violet. Wet my handkerchief,
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  Speaker 1: Jess ordered, briskly. Violet did so, dipping it in the
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  Speaker 1: running brook. Jess wrapped the cool wet folds around the
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  Speaker 1: hot paw and gently squeezed it against the wound, the dog,
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  Speaker 1: meanwhile trying to lick her hands. We'll sprise Henry, won't we,
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  Speaker 1: laughed Benny, delightedly. Now we got a dog, to be sure,
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  Speaker 1: said Jess, struck with the thought. But that isn't what
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  Speaker 1: I intended for a surprise, you know, I was intending
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  Speaker 1: to get a lot of blueberries and maybe find some
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  Speaker 1: old dishes in a dump or something. Can't we look
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  Speaker 1: while you hold the dog, asked Violet anxiously. Of course
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  Speaker 1: you can, pet, said Jess. Look over there by those rocks.
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  Speaker 1: Benny and Violet scrambled through the underbrush to the place
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  Speaker 1: Jess pointed out and investigated. But they did not hunt long,
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  Speaker 1: for the blueberries were so thick that the bushes almost
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  Speaker 1: bent over with their weight. Oh, Jessie, screamed Benny. You
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  Speaker 1: never saw so many in your life. What do'll we
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  Speaker 1: pick em into? Come and get a clean towel, said Jess,
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  Speaker 1: who noticed that Benny was already picking into his own mouth.
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  Speaker 1: But that's just as well, she thought, because he won't
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  Speaker 1: get so hungry waiting for the milk. She watched the
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  Speaker 1: two children for a moment as they dropped handfuls of
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  Speaker 1: the bluish globes on the towel. Then she carefully got
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  Speaker 1: up with her little patient and went over and sat
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  Speaker 1: down in the center of the patch. The berries were
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  Speaker 1: so thick that she did not have to change her
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  Speaker 1: position before the towel held over a quart. Oh dear,
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  Speaker 1: sighed Jess. I wish I could hunt for some dishes
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  Speaker 1: so we could have blueberries and milk. Never mind, tonight,
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  Speaker 1: said Violet. We can just eat a handful of berries
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  Speaker 1: and then take a drink of milk when Henry comes.
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  Speaker 1: But it was even better than that, For when Henry came,
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  Speaker 1: he had two bottles of milk under one arm, a
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  Speaker 1: huge loaf of brown bread under the other, and some
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  Speaker 1: golden cheese and waxed paper in his pocket. But you
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  Speaker 1: should have seen Henry's stare when he saw what Jess
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  Speaker 1: was holding. Where in the world began the boy he
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  Speaker 1: came to us, volunteered Benny, he came for a spries
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  Speaker 1: for you, and he's a nice doggie. Henry knelt down
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  Speaker 1: to look at the visitor, who wagged his tail. It
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't be a bad thing. To have a watch dog,
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  Speaker 1: said Henry. I was worried about you all the time
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  Speaker 1: I was gone. Did you bring some milk, inquired Benny,
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  Speaker 1: trying to be polite, but looking at the bottles with long,
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  Speaker 1: longing eyes. Bless his heart, said Jess, struggling to her
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  Speaker 1: feet with the dog. We'll have dinner right away, or
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  Speaker 1: is it supper? Call it supper, suggested Henry, for it's
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  Speaker 1: the last thing we'll have to eat to day, and
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  Speaker 1: then tomorrow we'll start having three meals every day, laughed Jess.
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  Speaker 1: It was certainly a queer meal, whatever it was. Jess,
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  Speaker 1: who liked above all things to be orderly, spread out
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  Speaker 1: the big gray laundry bag on the pine needles for
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  Speaker 1: a tablecloth. The brown loaf was cut by a very
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  Speaker 1: excited little Hostess into five thick squares, the cheese into
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  Speaker 1: four dogs. Don't eat cheese, Benny remarked, cheerfully. The poor
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  Speaker 1: little fellow was glad of it too, for he was
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  Speaker 1: very hungry. He could hardly wait for Jess to set
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  Speaker 1: the milk bottles in the center of the table and
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  Speaker 1: heap the blueberries in four little mounds, one at each place.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sorry we haven't cups. Jess remarked, we'll just have
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  Speaker 1: to drink out of the same bottle. No, we won't,
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  Speaker 1: said Henry. We'll drink half of each bottle, so that
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  Speaker 1: will make at least two things to drink out of.
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  Speaker 1: Good for you, Henry, said Jess, much relieved. You and
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  Speaker 1: Bennie use one, and Violet and I will use the other.
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  Speaker 1: So the meal began, look, Benny directed Henry. Eat a
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  Speaker 1: handful of berries. Then take a bite of brown bread,
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  Speaker 1: then a nibble of cheese. Now a drink of milk.
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  Speaker 1: It's good, it's good, mumbled Benny to himself. All through
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  Speaker 1: the meal. You must not imagine that the poor wandering
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  Speaker 1: dog was neglected, for Jess fed him gently as he
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  Speaker 1: lay in her lap, poking morsels of bread into his
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  Speaker 1: mouth and pouring milk into her own hand for him
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  Speaker 1: to lap up. When the meal was over, and exactly
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  Speaker 1: half of each bottle of milk remained, Jess said, we
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  Speaker 1: are going to sleep on beds tonight, and just as
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  Speaker 1: soon as we get our beds made, we are all
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  Speaker 1: going to be washed. That'll be fun, Benny added Violet.
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  Speaker 1: We'll wash our paws and the brook just the way
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  Speaker 1: cinnamon does first, let's gather armfuls of dry pine needles,
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  Speaker 1: ordered Jess. Get those on top that have been lying
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  Speaker 1: in the sunshine. Jess laid the dog down on a
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  Speaker 1: bed of moss as she spoke, and started energetically to
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  Speaker 1: scoop up piles of the fragrant needles. Soon a pile
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  Speaker 1: as high as her head stood just under the freight
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  Speaker 1: car door. I think we have enough, she said at last.
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  Speaker 1: Taking the scissors from Violet's work bag, she cut the
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  Speaker 1: laundry bag carefully into two pieces, saving the cord for
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  Speaker 1: a clothes sign. One of the big squares was laid
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  Speaker 1: across Benny's hay, and tucked under that was the softest
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  Speaker 1: bed of all, Violet's apron and her own. She cut
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  Speaker 1: off at the belt. I'll sleep next to Benny, said Henry,
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  Speaker 1: with my head up by the door. Then I can
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  Speaker 1: hear what is going on. A big pile of pine
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  Speaker 1: needles loaded into the freight car for Henry's bed and
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  Speaker 1: covered with the other half of the laundry bag. The
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  Speaker 1: remainder of the needles, Jess piled into the farthest corner
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  Speaker 1: of the car for herself and Violet. We'll all sleep
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  Speaker 1: on one side, so we can call it the bedroom.
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  Speaker 1: What'll be the other side, inquired Benny. The other side,
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  Speaker 1: repeated Jess. Let me think. I guess that'll be the
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  Speaker 1: sitting room, and perhaps some of the time the kitchen
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  Speaker 1: on rainy days, maybe the dining room, added Henry with
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  Speaker 1: a wink. Couldn't it be the parlor, begged Benny. Certainly
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  Speaker 1: the parlor. We forgot that, agreed Jess, returning the wink.
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  Speaker 1: She was covering the last two soft beds with the
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  Speaker 1: two aprons. The tops of these aprons are washcloths, she
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  Speaker 1: said severely. Then, armed with the big cake of soap,
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  Speaker 1: she led the way to the brook. The dog watched
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  Speaker 1: them anxiously, but when Jess said, lie still, he obeyed.
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  Speaker 1: From the moment Jess drew the thorn from his foot,
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  Speaker 1: he was her dog to obey her slightest command and
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  Speaker 1: to follow her wherever she went. The clean, cool brook
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  Speaker 1: was delightful, even to Benny. The children rolled up their
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  Speaker 1: sleeves and plunged their dusty arms into its waters, coarreling
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  Speaker 1: good naturedly over the soap and lathering their stained faces
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  Speaker 1: and necks with it. When they were well rinsed with
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  Speaker 1: clear water, they dried themselves with the towel. Then Jess
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  Speaker 1: washed both towels nicely with soap, rinsed them, and hung
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  Speaker 1: them on the clothes sign of tape, which she had
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  Speaker 1: stretched between two slender birch trees. They flapped lazily in
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  Speaker 1: the wind. Looks like home already, Jess, said Henry, smiling
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  Speaker 1: at the washing. The tired children clambered into the bedroom,
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  Speaker 1: Jess coming last with the wounded dog. We'll have to
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  Speaker 1: leave the door open, it's so hot, said Henry, lying
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  Speaker 1: down with a tired sigh. And less than ten minutes
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  Speaker 1: they were fast asleep dog, and all asleep at six o'clock, asleep,
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  Speaker 1: without naming the dog, without locking the door, without fear.
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  Speaker 1: For this was the first night in four that they
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  Speaker 1: had been able to go to sleep at night as
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  Speaker 1: children should. End of Chapter four